A mother who 'staged the death' of her 16-week-old daughter on a bus sent a text that said 'Imani is dead' as unsuspecting passengers desperately tried to save her child, a court heard.

Jurors were told Rosalin Baker, 25, was given the 'thumbs up' by her 52-year-old boyfriend Jeffrey Wiltshire as she boarded the number 25 in Stratford, east London, holding the body of their baby daughter Imani.

The Old Bailey heard she told passengers her baby had just fallen ill in a bid to stage her death and cover up the horrific abuse and murder of the child at home.

Imani, who had been born prematurely at 28 weeks, was rushed to hospital but she had already died from a fractured skull and brain injuries caused by her being thrown against the floor or a wall.

The court was told that WIltshire boasted he had 23 children and was proud of becoming a father aged 52.

Imani had also suffered a fractured wrist as a result of her arm being pulled or twisted, and at least 40 rib fractures, caused by her chest being squeezed as the baby's tiny body was shaken, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court.

CCTV cameras captured the moment Baker boarded the bus with little Imani strapped in front of her in a sling.

At 9.28am, Baker boarded a 25 bus on Romford Road with Imani strapped into a sling, with the child's face covered by a white cloth, the court heard.

CCTV showed Wiltshire kissing his girlfriend and waving her off from the pavement, giving her a thumbs-up as the bus doors closed and Baker went to sit down on the lower deck.

Mr Atkinson suggested Wiltshire had behaved in this way was because Baker was going to 'stage the discovery of a death of which she was in fact already fully aware and to involve unsuspecting members of the public in that deception'.

At 9.56am, Baker was seen on CCTV to look at Imani for the first time and beckon over fellow passenger, Fjoralba Shmitz.

Mr Atkinson said: 'Shmitz went over and saw that Imani had her eyes closed. She touched Imani's face and found that it was ice cold.'

Baker went on to act out a 'nightmare' charade, asking passengers on the number 25 bus for help and saying her baby had just fallen ill, the Old Bailey heard

Ms Shmitz took the baby and found she was not breathing. She tried to blow into Imani's mouth and found her lips were cold and her eye was bruised.

Believing the baby was dead, she started to panic and alerted the driver to call an ambulance as other passengers crowded around.

Another passenger, Viviana Caidedo also tried to help but immediately thought the infant was dead as she was 'cold and stiff', the court heard.

She was handed a mobile phone and took instructions on CPR from the emergency operator. When the bus stopped in Stratford, another member of the public carried on trying to resuscitate Imani before paramedics arrived.

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Mr Atkinson said: 'Throughout this time, as these members of the public tried to help Imani, and were gripped with a degree of panic when confronted with an apparently dead baby, that baby's mother, Baker, remained calmly seated holding her mobile phone.'

'When she got off the bus, she sent her sister a text message saying: 'Imani is dead sis x.'

Asked by paramedics what happened, Baker allegedly said Imani was fine before they got on the bus.

But Mr Atkinson said the condition of her cold stiff body suggested she had been dead for some time.

Rosalin Baker, 25, is on trial at the Old Bailey following the death of her four-month-old daughter, Imani

Baker (pictured left and right) had been receiving 'intervention' from medical professionals and social services since the birth up until the last week of the baby's life, jurors were told

Imani was pronounced dead in hospital and it is alleged her parents went on to give a false account of what happened to police, even denying that Wiltshire was the father.

She also had a fractured skull and brain injury 'as the result of being thrown against the floor or an upright surface' which led to her death, Mr Atkinson said.

In the week before Imani's death, Baker had taken the infant to live with Wiltshire in his bedsit in Newham, east London, after leaving her mother's home in Colchester, Essex.

Mr Atkinson said the injuries inflicted in those days would have caused the baby 'very significant pain and distress' which would have been obvious to any parent.

But neither defendant had sought medical help or done anything to prevent further injuries, he said.

Baker sent her sister a text message saying: Imani is dead sis x''

Mr Atkinson said the 'only realistic candidates' for causing Imani's death were Wiltshire and Baker.

He said if they were both not responsible for the fatal injury, at least one of them failed to intervene.

Baker had been receiving 'intervention' from medical professionals and social services since the birth up until the last week of the baby's life, jurors were told.

Imani was born prematurely at 28 weeks and five days on June 2 last year at Newham General Hospital.

The defendants were not 'up front' about her paternity and Wiltshire had claimed Baker was just a friend, jurors heard.

While in a high dependency unit, medical staff and social services became concerned Baker had not bonded with her daughter, Mr Atkinson said.

On August 15 last year, Imani was put on the Child Protection Register.

Jurors were told the baby had not been seen by medics since she was discharged from hospital on August 5 and Baker had refused to say who the father was and where she was living.

In a prepared statement, Baker told police she was in a 'total state of shock over the death of my baby'.

She said Imani did have a fall a few days before but she was 'perfectly fine'.

On arrest, Wiltshire initially denied being Imani's father. He later admitted she was his child and explained social workers would not approve of contact as he had mental health problems and smoked heroin and marijuana.

The couple deny murder and causing or allowing the death of their child on September 28 last year.